Lakers lose their 50th game of the season, 107-102, to Sacramento

SACRAMENTO — Pau Gasol’s vertigo came back with a vengeance and Chris Kaman’s right calf wouldn’t cooperate.

It was almost time for assistant coaches Kurt Rambis and Mark Madsen to suit up for the Lakers.

“Only if they let me wear the short shorts,” Rambis said beforehand and, yeah, that wasn’t really possible.

So the Lakers plowed ahead with nine players and lost to the equally awful Sacramento Kings, 107-102, on Wednesday at Sleep Train Arena.

The Lakers (25-50) hit the 50-loss mark for only the second time since moving to Los Angeles in 1960. If they lose three of their final seven games, they will officially own the worst record of the L.A. era.

Lakers fans-turned-lottery-trackers probably weren’t too upset Wednesday. The Lakers are now 1½ games worse than the Kings and Detroit for the NBA’s sixth-worst record.

If it stays that way, the Lakers have a 6.3% chance of winning the top pick in the May 20 lottery drawing. Teams with the seventh- and eighth-worst records have a 3.6% and 3.5% chance of the top spot.

Good job, Lakers? Sure, why not.

Only they could manage to suit up 13 players one night and four fewer the next. In addition to Gasol and Kaman, Xavier Henry and Steve Nash did not play.

“We had a tough trip. On the flight up, we lost four guys,” Lakers Coach Mike D’Antoni quipped. “We had a little turbulence but I didn’t know it was that much.”

Actually, Nash (sore back) didn’t even make the one-game trip. Henry sat out because of a sore knee and is probably done for the season.

Maybe it’s time to sit Gasol too.

He had breakfast with the team Wednesday and appeared ready to play but ran into trouble while doing his doctor-prescribed exercises in the afternoon.

He had been directed to rotate his head several times one way while standing, then several times the other direction in an attempt to make himself dizzy. The recovery from the exercises was supposed to be shorter each time and had been getting progressively better for him.

But on Wednesday afternoon, he did his exercises and ended up laid out on the floor.

He was relegated to his hotel room the rest of the day, meeting up with the team after the game to head home on the charter flight.

He had nine points and four rebounds in the Lakers’ 124-112 loss Tuesday to Portland and then said afterward he experienced lingering effects of his illness while making turns on the court. Maybe he came back too soon, he theorized.

He wasn’t the only post player sidelined against Sacramento. Kaman wasn’t sure when he injured his calf against Portland, listing three possible plays in which he might have done it.

Kaman and Gasol were replaced in Wednesday’s starting lineup by Jordan Hill (18 points, 15 rebounds) and Ryan Kelly (six points, five rebounds).

Rookie Ray McCallum scored a career-high 27 points for Sacramento (27-48), blistering the Lakers with drive after drive. He made only one three-pointer and two free throws.

Both teams have been out of the playoffs for almost three weeks, but for old time’s sake there was a “Beat L.A.” chant with 1:18 left as Rudy Gay made two free throws to put the Kings up five.

The Lakers had a chance to cut it to one but Kent Bazemore missed a running layup with 29.9 seconds left and that was pretty much that.

It remains to be seen which Lakers, if any, show up for Friday’s game against Dallas.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan